Agricultural harvesting machines include combine harvesters, forage harvesters and sugar cane harvesters by way of example. These harvesting machines include headers for cutting a standing crop or picking up a windrowed crop before gathering and processing the crop in a manner which depends upon the given machine. A combine harvester, for example, serves to thresh, separate and clean grain before collecting the grain in an on-board grain tank. The grain is periodically unloaded from the grain tank to a grain cart or grain truck via an unload conveyor. Other harvesters, such as forage harvesters, discharge the crop via an unload conveyor continuously throughout harvest.
Unload conveyors traditionally comprise an auger (or screw conveyor) inside a tube. However, other types of conveyor are known such as belt unloaders or blowers. The unload conveyor is normally swingable between a stowed (or transport) position and a deployed (or unloading) position. In the stowed position the conveyor typically extends along the side of the harvester body so as not to exceed the maximum permitted width on the highway and to avoid in-field obstacles such as trees or utility poles. In the deployed position the conveyor extends substantially transversely away from the harvester in order to reach a cart or truck which is driven alongside during unloading.
The process of unloading commonly occurs simultaneously with the process of harvesting and so the driver of the harvester is often required to pay attention to both the harvesting process and the unloading process at the same time. The relative position of the unload conveyor and the cart can be adjusted by varying the harvester forward speed, the cart forward speed or the swing angle of the unload conveyor, wherein the latter option is normally preferred because it does not affect the harvest process and the harvester driver has a better view of the cart. “Topping off” the cart or truck when nearly full can be especially challenging for an operator of the combine harvester and/or an operator of the cart or truck when also concentrating on forward movement and other operations of the machine.
It can be difficult for the operator of a grain cart or grain truck to know the status of the unload conveyor, further complicating the unload process. If the unload conveyor is pivoting relative to the harvesting machine, for example, the operator of the grain cart or grain truck may not know the position or direction of movement of the conveyor. Additionally, the operator may not know when the unload conveyor was activated or deactivated. Even the operator of a harvesting machine may not know the immediate status of the unload conveyor as there can be, for example, a delay between the time the operator activates the conveyor and when crop begins flowing from the conveyor spout.
The above section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.